Israeli Arab
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Template:Israelis Israeli Arabs, or 1948 Palestinians, are those Arabs who remained inside the borders of what would become Israel after 1948, when most Arabs fled the country in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (see also "Nakba"). They make up roughly 20% of Israel's population. They sometimes consider themselves Palestinian, sometimes Israeli, and sometimes both. They are sometimes taken to include Druze and Circassians, and sometimes taken to exclude them; within Israeli Arabs, the Bedouin form a distinct subgroup, as do the Palestinian Christians. The noted Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, though since exiled, originally belonged to this group; other well-known Israeli Arabs include the film director Elie Suleiman and the politician Azmi Bishara.
Israeli Arabs are considered to be full citizens of the State of Israel. There are a number of Israeli Arabs sitting as members of the Knesset (Parliament), and an Arab Justice presides in the Supreme Court. To some extent Israeli Arabs face discrimination as individuals, in part as a result of inequality in the allocation of governmental resources. The same government, however, also adopted affirmative action policies in recruiting Israeli Arabs to the civil service.
Apart from the Druze and Circassians, they are not required to serve in the IDF, although some, notably among the Bedouin, do so.
Some of them became internal refugees in 1948 (see Palestinian refugees.)
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Discrimination Against Israeli Arabs
According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied territories, the Israeli government "did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country's Arab citizens."[1] (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41723.htm)
Examples of discrimination against Israeli Arabs cited in the State Department report include the following:
- "According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail."
- "Government spending on children was proportionally lower in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas. ... According to the Government's February 2002 report to the U.N., government investment per Arab pupil was approximately 60 percent of investment per Jewish pupil. ... According to Human Rights Watch, during the year, the Government provided 1 teacher for every 16 Jewish primary school children compared to 1 teacher for every 19.7 Arab children. "
- "The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report ... stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"
- "In November, the Israeli-Arab advocacy NGO Sikkuy's annual report stated that 45 percent of Arab families were poor, in contrast to 15 percent of Jewish families, and that the rate of infant mortality in the Arab sector was 8 out of 1,000 births--twice that of the Jewish population."
- "According to a report by Mossawa, racist violence against Arab citizens has increased, and the Government has not done enough to prevent this problem. The annual report cited 17 acts of violence by Jewish citizens against Arab citizens. ... A Haifa University poll released in June revealed that over 63 percent of Jews believed that the Government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate."
- "Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain, including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased, not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it banned Arabs from bidding."
- "Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth. In February, security forces demolished several homes allegedly built without authorization in the Arab village of Beineh."
- "In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis."
- "Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns."
- "Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in the student bodies and faculties of most universities and in higher professional and business ranks. The Bureau of Statistics noted that the median number of school years for the Jewish population is 3 years more than for the Arab population. Well educated Arabs often were unable to find jobs commensurate with their level of education. According to Sikkuy, Arab citizens held approximately 60 to 70 of the country's 5,000 university faculty positions."
- "Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. Regarding the latter, for security reasons, Israeli Arabs generally were restricted from working in companies with defense contracts or in security-related fields."
Modifications to Citizenship and Entry law
On July 31, 2003 Israel enacted the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Provision), 5763-2003, a one year amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law denying citizenship and Israeli residence to Palestinians who reside in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and who marry Israelis, though this rule is waived for any Palestinian "who identifies with the State of Israel and its goals, when he or a member of his family has taken concrete action to advance the security, economy or any other matter important to the State." Upon expiry the law was extended for six months in August 2004, and again for 4 months in February 2005.[2] (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hrpa.html) Although this law affected all Israelis, it disproportionately affected Israeli Arabs, and was considered by many to be highly discriminatory.[3] (http://www.hanitzotz.com/challenge/82/citizenship.htm). On May 8, 2005, The Israeli ministerial committee for issues of legislation once again amended the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, to restrict citizenship and residence in Israel only to Palestinian men of up to age of 35, and Palestinian women of up to age of 25. The new bill was formulated in accordance with Shin Bet statistics showing that involvement in terror attacks declines with age. This newest amendment, in practice, removes restrictions from half of the Palestinian population requesting legal status through marriage in Israel. Furthermore, Palestinian children under the age of 16 who have one parent who married an Israeli can now obtain citizenship.[4] (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573767.html)
See also
External links
- Israeli Arabs (http://countrystudies.us/israel/23.htm) (Israel Country Study, US Dept. of the Army)
- Inside 1948 Palestine (http://www.islamonline.net/english/views/2002/07/article06.shtml) (IslamOnline)
- Arab Israelis (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/arabs2.html) (Jewish Virtual Library)
- Israel and the occupied territories (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41723.htm) (U.S. State Department 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices)
- An Israeli Arab viewpoint (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14762)he:ערביי ישראל